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The Carter Center

The Carter Center was founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, in partnership with Emory University, to advance peace and health worldwide. A not-for-profit, nongovernmental organization, The Carter Center has helped to improve life for people in more than 70 countries by resolving conflicts; advancing democracy, human rights, and economic opportunity; preventing diseases; improving mental health care; and teaching farmers to increase crop production. As part of its neglected disease prevention work, the Center seeks to eliminate blinding trachoma. In partnership with Lions Clubs International Foundation, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, Pfizer Inc, International Trachoma Initiative, and ministries of health, the Center helps implement the SAFE strategy—surgery, antibiotics, face and hand washing, and environmental hygiene.

The Carter Center has supported approximately 30 percent of the total global output of trichiasis surgeries, which are performed in local communities by trained health workers. The Carter Center is the lead organization worldwide focusing on the environmental facet of trachoma control, having assisted the construction of approximately 2.1 million household latrines since 2002 to help control the breeding of eye-seeking flies, an important source of trachoma infection. More than 56 million doses of Zithromax® have been distributed in Carter Center-supported areas and through Carter Center support, over 10,000 villages are currently benefitting from ongoing health education. As part of its neglected disease prevention work, The Carter Center, in partnership with the national programs, seeks to eliminate blinding trachoma in six African countries: Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Niger, and Sudan.